THE BILLIONAIRE'S CRYBABY
Chapter 219: GLOVE OFF

Chapter 219: GLOVE OFF

Ace was awoken by the sound of his buzzing phone.

He opened his eyes, and with a growl escaping his throat, shifted towards the bedside table.

Stretching his hand until he touched the device, he grabbed it, and laid straight on the bed again.

He brought the screen to his face, amidst a yawn.

"Landon?" He mused, wondering why he was calling so early.

But as he made to toss the phone back to the table, and drift back to sleep, an electrical jolt awoke his memory.

He jerked up, and swiftly answered the call.

"Lan, I’m so sorry about last night. I know we were supposed to meet up, and all that, but I returned home pretty late. I was so tired, I slept off as soon as my body touched the bed," he rambled.

"Hey, I don’t think that’s what we need to focus on right now," Landon said in a voice that spelled doom.

"Uhmmmm, what are you talking about? Why do you sound so gloomy?"

"Check your laptop. I forwarded you an email. Call me when you’ve seen it."

He hung up, leaving Ace totally confused as to what kind of conversation it was that they just had.

Shaking his head, he pushed the covers off his body, and slid out of bed.

The urgency to check his laptop for some doom email had not hit yet. Or maybe it was just his need to shower that trumped whatever urgency there was supposed to be.

Needless to say, he walked into the bathroom, and spent the next thirty minutes on his morning routine.

When he had finally dressed up for a leisurely day, he walked out of his room, and headed for his home office.

Spades could wait. He didn’t want to physically go into the building until he had a solution to their fast approaching doomsday.

He had a feeling that he just needed until the end of the month to get his shit together, and put an end to the burden of an impending explosion.

Marilyn was coming from the other side, and they met in the middle.

"Good morning, sir. You’re not going to the office today?" She asked.

"No Marilyn. But I’d be in my home office for a good portion of the day. If Fay happens to come around, let me know, please."

"Alright," she said, and walked past him.

She had taken two steps when she paused, her brain rebooting.

She doubled back, and moved into his path.

"What is it, Marilyn?" He asked, concerned and confused by her weirdness.

"Did you—- did you just say Fay will be coming around? Like Fay? Ms Fay? Your wife, Fay?" She asked, her eyes widened into the heavens.

His forehead creased as he stared at her. She could be strange, but he understood why his request had her so shaken.

"I mean I’m not sure she will, but I think she’s going to return my car herself. I don’t know, Marilyn. I’m just saying I’d like to know if she comes her—"

"Oh my God!" She screamed, not waiting for him to complete his words.

"Marilyn, are you alright? Do you need to sit for a few minutes?"

"Sit, Sir Ace? No way! I have to tell Alice the good news so we can prepare for her presence. Her room, Sir Ace? Can you give me the keys so I can open it, and maybe do some light cleaning?"

"No!" He said a little too strongly.

"Common, Sir Ace. What if she wants to go into the room? Do you want her to think I neglected something that belonged to her? I can’t bear for Fay to hate me. I just can’t."

She placed her hand on her chest dramatically, as her eyes watered.

Ace shook his head. It was his fault. If he had just kept quiet about an assumption that wasn’t even confirmed yet, he wouldn’t have to deal with her theatrics.

"Marilyn, like I said, I’m not certain she’ll be coming. And even if she is, it’s to drop-off my car. I doubt she’d even want to come into the house. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I have loads of work to do," he said, and moved ahead.

"I don’t care what you say, sir Ace. Fay would want a tour, and I’ll be only glad to show her. Right after I feed her into the heavens!" She called after him.

"Whatever Marilyn." He waved behind his shoulders.

He walked into his home office, and shut the door behind him.

"Surrounded by such drama queens," he muttered, as he went to his desk.

He dropped to his seat, and took off a few seconds before he finally turned on his laptop.

"Now what has Landon acting like a wimp?" He asked himself, as he went to his emails.

He clicked the one from Landon, and cracked his knuckles, before going through it.

At first, the content of the email didn’t make any sense.

There was a whole lot of standard protocol hogwash, and complicated words company’s loved to use to sound professional.

It wasn’t until the middle part of the email, that his alarm bells went off.

"And according to the protocol of the company, the shareholders have come to an agreement. Ace Atticus is dismissed as president of Spades effective immediately," he read out loud.

He chuckled after reading that line, then wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

"Let’s try that again," he said, and went back to that line.

It was still boldly written the way it was. Worse off, it was signed by Celine Atticus.

His phone rang at that moment, and he reached into his pocket to grab it.

"I’m on my way to the office," he said, as soon as he answered the call.

"Good. Because there’s an ongoing meeting right now. Don’t go through the highway either. The press are on this."

"Okay."

He made to end the call, but Landon was not done talking.

"And Ace?" He called.

"What is it?"

"No matter what you do, don’t look at the news."

"Wait what?"

Landon ended the call, further frustrating Ace.

He dashed out of the room, and headed to his own room.

In less than twenty minutes, he was fully dressed for the office.

Grabbing his briefcase after shoving every important document into it, he hurried out of his room.

His nose flared up when he skipped downstairs, and the smell of food drifted into it.

"Sir Ace? Are you—"

He walked past Alice, and stepped out into the open.

Cam was already in the car when he walked out.

He went to the car, tossed his briefcase in, before going in himself.

"Tell me everything happening in the news, and don’t go through the highway," he said, as Cam drove out of the compound.

"It’s the media, sir. I just saw you in the headlines. They’re saying you gambled Spades profit away in a shady deal with a shady site. They’re on your ass, horribly," he said without sugarcoating anything.

Ace sighed. "I was wondering why that bitch has been quiet all along. This is what she’s been working on?" He laughed, but it was devoid of humour.

"I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, sir Ace, but don’t you think it’s time to stop showing her mercy? She has proven she’d do anything to hurt you. I say you hit her back where it hurts the most," Cam advised.

"Oh you don’t need to tell me, Cam. The gloves are off. She’s going to get everything she’s given so far, but in a thousand folds."

Cam drove into Spades through the back, and stopped the car.

Ace came down to see Landon already waiting for him.

"The press are gathered at the gate in their numbers. The security guys are still keeping them away, but we have to go in now."

He grabbed Ace’s briefcase, and followed him into the company.

They used the back elevator to go up the board room.

"How many people are in there?" Ace asked, putting on his battle glare.

"Everyone. Every single shareholder, and Ace, it’s bad," Landon said, just as they arrived at the board room.

He nodded, and pushed the door open. His eyes went to the head of the table first, where his name usually was.

It had been replaced with Celine Atticus, who was also sitting on his chair.

Everyone turned as he walked into the room.

"Finally, he graces us with his presence," Celine said

He didn’t stop, but walked directly to her.

"What are you doing Ace?" Lynette called, as his hands dropped to the table, and he stretched so he was directly facing Celine.

"What game are you playing this time?" He asked in a chilling voice.

She threw him a smug smile, and picked up the tag she already had designed for a moment like this one.

"Oh Ace darling, it’s not a game anymore. I won already. Can’t you see? I’m Spades new president, and if you stay long enough, you’ll hear your punishment for how naughty you’ve been in your dealings," she said in a patronising voice.

"I swear to God Celine, I’ll—"

"Sit down, Ace Atticus. It’s time to settle this once and for all," the matriarch of the Atticus family said, as her cane announced her presence next.